Loop of Overwork

作品賞析

Artist Jheng Cyuan often reflects on social issues in his works. In Loop of Overwork, he used ink and acrylic paint to depict a conspectus of Taiwanese workers, especially in those occupations known for demanding extremely long working hours, such as medicine, aviation, firefighting, and so on. The artist took the image of dung beetles, dressed them in the representative uniforms of people who work in particular occupations, and then placed them on an ever-ascending staircase loop with no exit. He also borrowed a technique of the optical illusion master M.C. Escher, that is, using a closed space structure, to express the vicious circle of overwork. Distinctive characteristics of Taiwan’s old apartment buildings can also be seen both in the main building and surrounding structures: red rubber handrails, corrugated iron roofs, sheet metal buildings, and so on. The age and rusty texture of the old buildings in particular are brought out by chapping the ink brush. The hard-working dung beetles display a suffocating sense of being oppressed, trudging and going nowhere. It is a profound reflection on the workplace environment in Taiwan.